Board-led Culture Review and Implementation Plan
Over the past decade, Boards have been held increasingly responsible for setting and monitoring the cultures of the organisations they oversee.
This critically important duty places responsibility on directors to set the strategic cultural direction of the organisation and to ensure the culture is meaningly measured, monitored and improved.
These responsibilities raise a number of important questions for Directors that include:
Where should a Board start?
How do we know what culture we require as a Board?
What culture do we currently have, and what needs to change
How should a Board monitor and measure culture and cultural change?
How does the Board sustain a focus on culture over time?
The research around culture has found direct links between culture and performance of the organisation. However, a lack of clarity around how to measure and implement culture change has resulted in this being an area of potential confusion and complexity for Boards and senior executives.
Culture change does not need to be complex. At its essence, workplace cultures should be defined as people’s perceptions and resultant actions that demonstrate ‘this is the way we do things around here’. It is these unwritten ground rules – or ‘UGRs’ – that demonstrate how well the organisational vision and values are being lived in the workplace. This is what constitutes culture. There are also often nuances of culture that are demonstrated in different organisational levels of the organisation.
Examples of UGRs include:
At our meetings it isn't worth complaining as we know nothing will get done.
The only time anyone gets spoken to by the boss is when something is wrong.
The organisation talks about the importance of customer service but we know other things are more important so we don't really have to worry about it.
The UGRs concept has been extensively used as the vehicle to understand, monitor, measure and improve cultures by organisations across the world - including SAP (Services Division - globally) Kmart Australia and New Zealand, McLaren Automotive (UK), Barclays Bank Africa, and Next in the UK. It has been used extensively in corporate, SME and not-for profit organisations to assist the Board and executive team to understand, manage and monitor culture in a way that aligns with vision, values and strategy.
There are three options available.
Option 1 is for the Board to be provided unique insights into understanding, monitoring, measuring and leading workplace cultures.
The outcomes from this option would include directors gaining:
Completely new and practical insights into workplace cultures and how they are formed
A heightened awareness of the power of cultures and how they drive people's behaviours - mostly at an unconscious level
Insights into the role Values play in leading cultures
Knowledge about how to assess the current culture as it relates to each of organisation’s Values
Insights into how the UGRs concept has been used to understand and improve workplace cultures
Option 2 is for the conduct of a survey of up to 300 people to assess the extent to which the organisation meets each of eight critical elements that combine to ensure organisations are gaining maximum benefits from a positive, productive culture.
The outcomes from this option include Director gaining:
An assessment of the extent to which each of the eight core elements is in place to ensure a productive culture
A full report on recommended actions necessary to make improvements in the culture, including who should take primary responsibility for those changes
A one hour debrief on the outcomes with the Governance Committee (or similar Board committee)
Option 3 – Phase 1 - is for the conduct of a unique cultural audit called a ‘UGRs Stock Take’, followed by debriefs with the Governance Committee, the Board and senior leaders with a view to identifying actions that need to occur to strategically improve the culture. A further 12 month follow-up will provide evidence of culture change.
The outcomes from this option would include:
In-depth understanding of the current culture as it relates to each of the most important aspects of the organisation’s culture i.e. its Values, across the Board and senior executive team.
Clear pathway to roll-out the Stock Take results across all staff with supporting resources in the form staff engagement resources and a full report specifying rollout strategies.
An understanding by all parties of priority actions/changes that need to occur to make improvements in any priority areas of concern from the Stock Take
Verifiable culture change over a 12 month period
Option 3 - Phase 2- is to put in place training and support mechanisms to sustain an ongoing focus on culture and to measure progress at six and 12 month intervals following the initial training.
The outcomes from this option would include:
The creation of in-house expertise on culture, culture change and sustaining culture change
Ready access to a large range of resources on culture and culture changes for leaders, culture champions and the Board for a 12 month period
Tracking of progress on culture change via follow-up Stock Takes six months and 12 months following the Champions’ Training
More in-depth Board understandings of culture-change nuances from the ongoing sessions with lead facilitator
“In the 1980s it was Situational Leadership and Ken Blanchard, and Body Language and Alan Pease. In the 2000s, it was Jim Collins and Good to Great. Now is the time for UGRs. ”
“UGRs initiated a corporate ‘Road to Damascus’ experience for us, creating the foundation for our future sustained success.”
“After years of working with you, I didn’t think you could raise your game any higher... but somehow you did... again. I couldn’t have wished for a better outcome.”
“If an organisation is serious about understanding at a grass roots level what people actually think, what actually happens, UGRs are absolutely the way to go.”
“Just when you thought every leadership concept had been identified in the management world! The management of UGRs and organisational culture is THE leadership imperative of this era.”
“We had Steve Simpson speak on cultural change in London and he went down an absolute storm. People LOVED him and I very much enjoyed working with him…he was very professional, conscientious and amiable. His ‘thing’.”
“Steve Simpson is a breath of fresh air as a presenter. He captivated and engaged the whole group at the recent Victorian Health Association Governance Conference in Melbourne. His approach to talking about and approaching the unwritten ground rules (UGRs) in organisations was both refreshing and genuine.”
“What an inspiration! I am already preparing a presentation for my Management Team to introduce them to some of your ideas with serious revolution in mind.”
“I’ve seen a lot of presenters at a lot of conferences – but few with the skills, the humour and the engaging cheek of Steve Simpson.”
